Re: Questions about DIDs and Identity Credentials

Hi gang,

One issue I've had is an unclear distinction of what is verifiable, the 
delivery of a credential/claim or the credential/claim itself? 
Verifiable credentials works because it's usually the issuer, like a 
University, which is verifying the underlying academic credential.

This is not so clear with a verifiable claim... is the delivery being 
verified (like an IBM "cryptolope") or is the underlying claim being 
verified by some sort of attestation or number of attestations? Is this 
claim being made by a third party? Is it a claim that has been 
authorized for transfer, like the right to pick up a prescription from 
the pharmacy? Is there a legal attestation attached to the claim? If the 
claim is being issued by an autonomous software process, such as a smart 
contract oracle, how do we verify that this oracle has not been hacked?

For this reason, at my company, we refer to "verifiable claims" as 
"trust objects". They may or may not be "verified" by a verified source, 
they may or may not be backed up with a legal attestation, they may or 
may not whatever. These "atomic trust markers and datapoints" can be 
aggregated via a probabilistic convolution to assess an overall 
trustability assessment of a user that holds the DID to which these 
objects/claims are associated.

Anyway, my two cents...

Moses

PS, it was fun working with y'all in Toronto!

PPS, I have an observation based on months of participation in this 
group that I'd like to share, as an "innovation coach". This group does 
a pretty good job of co-inspiring ideation, but I have noticed a 
persistent level of negative feedback for proffered suggestions. I 
wanted to urge everyone here to provide ONLY positive feedback for the 
contribution of ideas, instead of ragging on why it won't work.

Even if you dislike an idea, a useful rule-of-thumb from improvisational 
comedy is called/"Yes... and"./ Every participant should accept what 
another participant has stated ("yes") and then expand on that line of 
thinking ("and"). It is also used in business and other organizations as 
a principle that improves the effectiveness of the brainstorming 
process, fosters effective communication, and encourages the free 
sharing of ideas.

Here's an article I wrote about why this is important:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-tao-innovation/201210/why-many-brainstorms-suck



On 10/2/18 10:33 AM, Dave Longley wrote:
> On 10/02/2018 09:18 AM, Donghwan Kim wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> First of all a lot of thanks for writing the specifications. The 
>> followings are my questions about DIDs and Identity Credentials.
>>
>> 1. What is the difference or relationship between Identity 
>> Credentials [1], Verifiable Credentials [2], and Verifiable Claims 
>> [3]? I haven't read all the specifications thoroughly yet but they 
>> all seem to deal with the same thing.
>
> They all refer to the same thing. The group has struggled with
> terminology and settled on "Verifiable Credentials".
>
> "Identity Credentials" was the precursor to "Verifiable Credentials", so
> it is just a historical document that eventually became "Verifiable
> Credentials". "Verifiable Claims" is another name for "Verifiable
> Credentials" and the link you provided refers to the use cases document
> that various specs (like the VC data model) are being created to support.

-- 

*Moses Ma | Managing Partner*

moses.ma@futurelabconsulting.com | moses.ma@sparkchaincapital.com | 
moses@ngenven.com

v+1.415.568.1068 | skype mosesma | /linktr.ee/moses.tao/ 
<http://linktr.ee/moses.tao>

FutureLab provides strategy, ideation and technology for breakthrough 
innovation and third generation blockchains.

Learn more at /www.futurelabconsulting.com/ 
<http://futurelabconsulting.com>. For calendar invites, please cc: 
mosesma@gmail.com


Or whet your appetite by reading /Agile Innovation/ 
<http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Innovation-Revolutionary-Accelerate-Engagement/dp/B00SSRSZ9A> 
| /Blockchain Design Sprint/ 
<https://www.amazon.com/Blockchain-Design-Sprint-Workbook-Implement/dp/1548592714> 
| my blog at /psychologytoday.com/ 
<http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-tao-innovation>.